In this tutorial I explain how traditional banjo players tune the banjo to match their natural singing voice. By following these simple instructions, many who presently believe that they "can't sin...
2021-02-19 16:31:00 +0000 UTC View Post
f♯DF♯AD - I learned "Old Reuben" (aka Reuben's Train, Train 45, 500 Miles, 800 Miles, or just Reuben) from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky.
Old Reuben had a train ran from ...
2021-02-12 16:30:59 +0000 UTC View Post
(f♯DF♯AD) "Old Reuben," "Reuben's Train," "Train 45," "500 Miles," etc. I first saw it played by George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky, who called it simple "Reuben." My version borrows heavi...
2021-02-05 12:48:30 +0000 UTC View Post
In 1913 Lyon & Healy introduced the "Improved George Washburn" banjo featuring their new and improved tone ring. This tone ring was likely intended as a cheaper knock-off of Fairbanks' "Electri...
2021-01-29 16:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The Truth About Banjo History: https://youtu.be/KK7So0x3t4Q
The Truth About "Racist" Folk Songs: 2021-01-25 20:30:23 +0000 UTC View Post
This tutorial demonstrates two traditional approaches (in two traditional tunings) to the early banjo song, "Love Somebody," which is mostly known today as "Soldier's Joy." I learned it originally ...
2021-01-22 16:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCE relative (fB♭FB♭D actual). I learned "Soldier's Joy" from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. George told me that this is a very old piece of music, and that among black banjo player...
2021-01-15 16:30:01 +0000 UTC View Post
f#DGAD relative (eCFGC actual). I arranged this version of "Death and the Lady" after hearing a recording of Norma Waterson & Martin Carthy. In this lesson, I demonstrate how the song is played...
2021-01-08 17:01:06 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). I learned this song from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. George learned it from his father, Mal Gibson, who played it for him one time, laid the banjo ...
2021-01-01 16:30:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Late 1890s S.S. Stewart "Special Thoroughbred" banjo with 10-5/8" pot.
2020-12-24 15:16:58 +0000 UTC
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f#DGAD. I learned "Death and the Lady" (Roud 1031) from a recording of Norma Waterson & Martin Carthy. It's earliest entry in The Roud Folk Song Index is 1778.
As I walked out one w...
2020-12-21 05:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). I learned "Last Gold Dollar" (Mole In the Ground) from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. Gibson learned it from Orgus "Grandpa" Hudson, a prolific banjo ...
2020-12-18 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post
This 1920s Supertone "Dixie Wonder" banjo was made by Rettburg & Lange, and distributed by Sears & Roebuck. Dock Boggs is said to have used one of these when he was recorded in New York Cit...
2020-12-11 17:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
The Arts Fuse is an online arts magazine covering events in the New England area. They asked me to submit three songs for this fundraiser video, and I did. There's a couple of other musicians on it...
2020-12-05 16:12:10 +0000 UTC View Post
f B♭ F B♭ B♭ (gCGCC "Darling Cora" tuning) I composed this song in November 2004 after learning that a close friend had been killed in Ramadi, Iraq.
2020-12-04 17:00:05 +0000 UTC
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gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). I learned "She's on the Road Somewhere" from George Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. Gibson learned it from Knott County songster, Orgus "Grandpa" Hudson, circ...
2020-11-28 05:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). This is my original arrangement from old recording of Bill Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, and others.
2020-11-23 05:00:02 +0000 UTC
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gCGCC. I composed this song in November of 2004 after learning that one of my closest friends had been killed in Ramadi, Iraq. He was 21 years old.
"PFC Dennis J. Miller, 21, was kille...
2020-11-20 21:13:31 +0000 UTC View Post
gDGBD "Big Eyed Rabbit" (Rockin' in a Weary Land or Rock in a Weary Land) I learned this song from Josh Hayes of Watauga County, North Carolina. It was, however, most famously recorded by Tommy Jar...
2020-11-14 05:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post
fDGCD - I learned this song from a recording of Virgil Anderson made at Berea, Kentucky in on 30 March 1985. Link to original: https...
2020-11-12 15:48:11 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCD relative (fB♭FB♭C actual). I learned "Sammie, Where Have You Been So Long" from the 1927 recording of Dock Boggs. This alternate version of Mole In the Ground (Last Gold Dollar) appears o...
2020-11-08 05:01:07 +0000 UTC View Post
I learned "Sammie, Where Have you Been So Long" from the 1927 recording of Dock Boggs on Brunswick Records # 131. A newly remastered recording of this appears on The Harry Smith B-Sides compilation...
2020-11-07 05:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post
gCGCE relative (fB♭FB♭D actual, "One-Finger C"). This is my original arrangement of the classic minstrel ballad "Oh! Susanna" by Stephen Foster (1826–1864). The playing style used here is typ...
2020-11-05 15:27:26 +0000 UTC View Post
I learned to sing "Oh! Susanna" from my grandfather, Aaron Mayo Moore, when I was four or five years old. This is my own original banjo arrangement in gCGCE relative, fB♭FB♭D actual (Eddie Hagg...
2020-11-05 00:13:11 +0000 UTC View Post
f#CGAD relative (eB♭FGC actual). "O Death" (Conversation With Death) was composed by Lloyd Chandler in 1916. It was later recorded by Dock Boggs, Nimrod Workman, and Ralph Stanley. In this lesson...
2020-10-31 04:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
I learned "O Death" (Conversation With Death) from a Smithsonian Folkways recording of Dock Boggs. It's also been recorded by Lloyd Chandler, Nimrod Workman, and Ralph Stanley. Although it has been...
2020-10-30 22:50:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a fine 1920s banjo marked "Slingerland 209" on the dowel. Original calfskin head, original patent friction tuners, vintage waverly tailpiece, birdseye maple neck & pot, a loud tone ring,...
2020-10-27 16:31:16 +0000 UTC View Post
[gCGBD] I learned "Saint James Infirmary Blues" from a 1960s recording of Dock Boggs titled "Old Joe's Barroom." My instrument is an 1888 Luscomb banjo by Thompson & Odell of Boston. Eddie Hagg...
2020-10-23 20:28:24 +0000 UTC View Post
In November, 2018 I attended the annual Banjo Collectors' Gathering with George Gibson, Justin Hoffman, and many others at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, TN. All film clips cour...
2020-10-15 10:31:37 +0000 UTC View Post
[fDGCD] I learned "I'm Dying, Mother" from the recording of Bert Hare on Art Rosenbaum's "Art of Field Recording Sampler" album (Dust To Digital, 2006): 2020-10-14 04:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post